TVs have come a long way with incredible large, bright, high-resolution screens offering streaming apps and casting capabilities. Very impressive. Except for one thing: As much as modern TVs have improved in so many ways, they simply cannot offer a quality of sound to match their image. This is not hard to understand since we want thin screens and big, w-i-d-e sound - and they just don’g go together.Enter the exploding market for soundbars and surround-sound systems. Like TVs, sound systems created to compliment modern TVs have also come a long ways. A full system with a powerful subwoofer will give you a sound that rivals the cinemas. But it will typically cost $1,500+. The value of that purchase will likely depend on just how big your screen setup and room ... MoreTVs have come a long way with incredible large, bright, high-resolution screens offering streaming apps and casting capabilities. Very impressive. Except for one thing: As much as modern TVs have improved in so many ways, they simply cannot offer a quality of sound to match their image. This is not hard to understand since we want thin screens and big, w-i-d-e sound - and they just don’g go together.Enter the exploding market for soundbars and surround-sound systems. Like TVs, sound systems created to compliment modern TVs have also come a long ways. A full system with a powerful subwoofer will give you a sound that rivals the cinemas. But it will typically cost $1,500+. The value of that purchase will likely depend on just how big your screen setup and room is.For those who have a smaller setup, or who want multiple TV locations with solid sound, there’s a vastly-improved alternative offering truly exceptional sound: the mini-soundbar. These are usually single, self-contained soundbars that are capable of offering solid bass without relying on a separate subwoofer. The Sennheiser - AMBEO Soundbar Mini Compact Device with Adaptive Features and Multiple Connectivity is an excellent example.The AMBEO mini offers strong, solid, high-quality sound with a bass tone that rounds out the tonal landscape very well. The bass won’t rattle the windows, but neither will it leave you feeling like you’re missing the low end. Basically, for half the price of a normal system, you get a fullness of sound that rivals the larger offerings. The only caveat is that it will lose its impact if used in a large room.I found the AMBEO mini easy to set up. Just plug it in, connect it, and you’re immediately enjoying rich sound. But that’s just the beginning. You’ll want to get the app so you can customize the sound, or simply choose from a large selection of EQ settings. I found it definitely enhanced dialog when watching movies and television shows, and the music settings made a variety of musical styles really pop. It easily connects to sound sources via bluetooth and offers a variety of digital assistants (Alexa, Siri, etc).One thing to consider, the ‘multiple connectivity’ in the name is not referring to standard connections. The AMBEO mini only offers 1 USB and 1 HDMI port. Although bluetooth is making this issue less important, it is worth noting for your own intended application.All-in-all, the Sennheiser - AMBEO Soundbar Mini Compact Device with Adaptive Features and Multiple Connectivity is a great value and impressive product.

PROS+ Ambeo 3D surround virtualization is almost magically effective from such a small bar+ Dolby Atmos and DTS:X compatible for movie 3D audio+ Hi-Fi audio quality all around+ Auto calibration for your room with built-in mics+ Solid center channel and dialogue enhancements+ Several audio mode presets and app EQ+ Very compact and minimalist design+ Handy remote with lots of functionality+ Sennheiser App with Ambeo|OS provides a ton of control over the bar, and is quite responsiveCONS- Without actual up-firing drivers, height effects from 3D mixes are somewhat limited, and can vary heavily depending on your space- At times, the audio can sound over-processed with the Ambeo mode engaged, specifically with some music sources- Decent low-end presence ... MorePROS+ Ambeo 3D surround virtualization is almost magically effective from such a small bar+ Dolby Atmos and DTS:X compatible for movie 3D audio+ Hi-Fi audio quality all around+ Auto calibration for your room with built-in mics+ Solid center channel and dialogue enhancements+ Several audio mode presets and app EQ+ Very compact and minimalist design+ Handy remote with lots of functionality+ Sennheiser App with Ambeo|OS provides a ton of control over the bar, and is quite responsiveCONS- Without actual up-firing drivers, height effects from 3D mixes are somewhat limited, and can vary heavily depending on your space- At times, the audio can sound over-processed with the Ambeo mode engaged, specifically with some music sources- Decent low-end presence given the size of the small size of the bar, but adding a subwoofer would go a long way towards filling our audio tracks- Limited additional ports on the bar (limited to one eARC HDMI, and a USB port)WHAT WOULD MAKE IT BETTER* The ability to add wireless surround speakers would be great. You can add a Senneiser wireless subwoofer if you want that extra low-end, but there is currently no option for additional wireless surround sound speakersTHE LONG AND SHORT OF ITThe Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Mini is a great choice for anyone looking for a compact soundbar who still wants a hi-fi audio experience. Sound quality in particular is what Sennheiser is known for across their soundbars and headphones, and the Ambeo Mini does not disappoint in this regard. Despite being incredibly compact at about 2.5” x 27.5” x 4”, the bar is incredibly potent when it comes to audio quality. With the Ambeo processing engaged, you get a shockingly wide and mobile soundscape that, with the right kind of audio source, can sound MUCH bigger than the small bar itself. I would highly recommend checking out the included audio demos accessible via the Sennheiser app, as they really showcase what the Ambeo Mini can do in some almost magical ways. The Primal demo in particular had sounds flying around the room in a convincing manner that, while I never felt I was in the middle of a surround sound system, I absolutely had the impression of a virtual bubble of sound around me. It was really surprising to me just how effective the bar was at making this effect, given its small size and limited number of drivers. In some cases, it sounded like genuine wizardry just how it was placing precise sounds in places in the room around me. The bar almost vanishes into the soundscape, without drawing attention to itself. It isn’t always perfect, as this 3D virtualization can sometimes be stretched a bit too far and you can find complex tracks or music can get a little over-processed sounding without the extra drivers in the bar, but honestly I found this few and farther between. You can also disable Ambeo processing for things like music if you prefer a more traditional stereo or mono sound that is unprocessed by the bar.Speaking of audio quality, Sennheiser really excels here. Even when you take away all of the fancy Amebo audio processing and upscaling, you are still left with clearly high quality drivers that can reproduce sound extremely well, with high detail and definition. I personally never felt the need to touch the EQ, although you certainly can, but for my casual audiophile ears, I found the default sound quality with the “Adaptive” audio preset to be very good for my tastes in both movies and music. Music in particular sounded great, especially with the Ambeo processing dialed down, to give tracks a raw audio quality that came through with fantastic texture. This is bolstered by the Ambeo Mini’s support for high-quality audio codecs and hi-res audio sources. I listened to music over Airplay with Apple Music and Spotify, and played music directly over HDMI from my Apple TV 4K, and everything sounded fantastic. In particular, I actually enjoyed Dolby Atmos music quite a bit, which offered a nice 3D soundscape that pushed out into the room and made me feel more like I was in a concert hall during certain tracks. I did find the bass lacking a bit with movies, but for TV and music it felt more than sufficient. I would highly recommend investing in a Sennheiser wireless subwoofer however, as it will add a lot to the sound quality of the bar for both movies and music in my opinion.In terms of set-up and build quality, both were great experiences. The build quality is fantastic, with a matte black top of the bar, capacitive buttons, and cloth wrapped grill around the bar. It looks great on my TV stands, and feels very solid for such a little bar. It had the feel and impression of quality, through and through in my opinion. This being said, despite being such a small form factor, I do wish there was a wider port selection on the bar itself. You do get an eARC HDMI port for connecting to your TV, but there are no additional HDMI ports, so you cannot connect additional devices directly to the bar. This means if your TV doesn’t support DTS for example, you may not be able to get it played on the Mini, unless you use an alternative solution like a receiver. In my opinion, this makes a strong case of the Mini being best suited for bedrooms, or smaller rooms with a TV that doesn’t have a lot of media you want to connect. You can still use eARC, which may work fine if you don’t plan to connect other devices to the bar directly, but you are somewhat reliant on your TV in this case. Additionally, given the smaller form factor of the bar and reliance on virtualized surround sound, a smaller room will likely suit this bar much better, as it will be able to work its virtualization magic a bit easier. I tested mine in a room that was probably larger than recommended, but honestly was shocked by how well it produced 3D audio. It had me following sounds through the air with my head in a way I simply have not seen virtualized sound do this well without wearing a pair of headphones. I think Sennheiser’s Ambeo technology really is the best in the business.One of my favorite features of the bar is the auto self-calibration, which uses built-in mics on the bar to calibrate it for your space by running a series of test tones. It is a very quick and seamless process done via the app, and when finished, I noticed a significant improvement in sound quality and surround sound virtualization in my space. Don’t skip this step!All-in-all I really love this little bar, and it continues Sennheiser’s legacy of putting audio quality above all else. It won’t work miracles, so don’t go in expecting this to replace a dedicated home theater system, but for such a compact bar, meant to be used in smaller spaces, it more than does the job for creating an all around audio powerhouse. Definitely put this near the top of your list if you are looking for a compact soundbar with premium sound and build quality.

For the last few years, I’ve been using a small soundbar similar in size to the Ambeo Mini, from another major consumer electronics company. My living room isn’t conducive to a full-blown surround system, but I wanted to get better sound than I was getting, so the Ambeo Mini piqued my interest.Unboxing the Ambeo Mini lets you know that this is a high quality item. Everything is meticulously packaged and protected, which I expected at this price point, but it was still nice to actually get that. Included are the soundbar, remote control, power cable and HDMI cable.Setup is dead simple. My TV supports eARC, so I only had to plug in the power cable and connect to the TV using the eARC port. The Sennheiser Smart Control app is required to connect to your wifi and ... MoreFor the last few years, I’ve been using a small soundbar similar in size to the Ambeo Mini, from another major consumer electronics company. My living room isn’t conducive to a full-blown surround system, but I wanted to get better sound than I was getting, so the Ambeo Mini piqued my interest.Unboxing the Ambeo Mini lets you know that this is a high quality item. Everything is meticulously packaged and protected, which I expected at this price point, but it was still nice to actually get that. Included are the soundbar, remote control, power cable and HDMI cable.Setup is dead simple. My TV supports eARC, so I only had to plug in the power cable and connect to the TV using the eARC port. The Sennheiser Smart Control app is required to connect to your wifi and complete the setup. The most important step handled by the app is to calibrate the soundbar to the acoustics of your room. This is a simple process that is handled by the app, and when it finishes, you’re good to go.The Ambeo mini is about 28 inches long, a little over 4 inches deep and just over 2.5 inches high, making it very unobtrusive sitting in front of your TV. Build quality is excellent, with metal casing and fabric covering the speaker grills. Control buttons are included on top of the unit, and these are touch-sensitive, not physical buttons (I never needed these buttons). There is one eARC HDMI port for connecting to your TV, as well as one USB-A port, but that’s it. Optical sound connection is not supported, and the single HDMI port means you’ll be reliant on all sound coming from the TV if you want it to come out of this soundbar. For me that’s not a problem, but if you were planning to connect to other devices in addition to the TV, you won’t be able to do that.In case you’re wondering, eARC is the latest iteration of the ARC (audio return channel) system. This allows all of the various devices connected to your TV to use the same HDMI connection for audio output, hence the reason there’s only one input port. eARC increases the bandwidth available, allowing you to consume content that includes Dolby Atmos, as well as other audio standards. One nice side benefit that I didn’t have with an optical audio connection is that powering on the TV powers the soundbar. I’m also able to use the TV’s remote to control the output level on the soundbar, which is very convenient. The Ambeo’s remote isn’t necessary unless I want to change the EQ modes that are available.So, how does it sound? The demo mode included with the app really shows off what the Ambeo Mini can do, taking you into the jungle and surrounding you with sounds of wildlife. This is quite impressive. Next, it was time to try it with movies and TV. Obviously, better input results in better output, so I made sure that I tried out the Ambeo Mini with high quality inputs, such as movies and shows that feature Dolby Atmos sound. Movies such as Top Gun: Maverick and shows like Amazon’s The Rings of Power have Dolby Atmos sound and in fact they sounded great on the Ambeo Mini. When you’re playing Dolby Atmos content, the Ambeo indicates this by lighting up the words on the top of the soundbar. Highs are crisp, mid-range sounds full, and even the bass sounds good, but not nearly as deep as it would with a subwoofer. Some reviewers have heavily criticized the weak bass response, but I think it’s actually quite good, especially for its size.After listening for a while with video content, I switched to Bluetooth streaming from my phone. It sounded very good, but I wasn’t blown away. That’s when I switched back to my previous soundbar to compare the sound and was very impressed with the sound output from the Ambeo. Everything was richer and fuller, and sounded like speakers much bigger than they actually were. This reminded me that it’s easy to get used to something and you need to be able to compare to really notice the differences.The Ambeo Mini is not a bargain soundbar. It is priced with other premium competitors, and the main reason for that is the proprietary technology that gives the Ambeo Mini the ability to mimic a 7.1.4 surround setup. This creates a much more immersive experience while watching a movie, without all the extra equipment needed to have a real surround setup. Is the Ambeo as good as the real thing? No, but it provides excellent sound in a small package that you can almost set up without thinking about. I do think the marketing hype about its virtual surround capabilities is a little overblown, and I never really felt like sounds were coming from around and above me. Nonetheless, it is noticeably better than soundbars without this feature, so you’ll ultimately have to decide how much that is worth to you.The Ambeo Mini features several EQ modes, such as movie, music, news, sports, neutral and adaptive, which dynamically chooses the mode based on the input. Movie mode produces an overall rich soundstage that goes with the typical movie experience, while other modes minimize the background sounds to focus on the main sound channel. One feature I especially liked was the voice mode, which emphasizes dialog in movies and TV shows, and it really does do a good job of emphasizing dialog and making it stand out against background music or sound effects. Night mode subdues the bass, allowing you to listen with all the quality but without disturbing your house mates. The Ambeo mode attempts to create a more spatial feel, with sounds seemingly coming from above and behind you. While the effect wasn’t dramatic, I think it’s good enough to leave it on all the time, as the overall sound is noticeably better with it on.In the beginning of this review, I mentioned the lack of multiple inputs. The only issue I found with that is when I used my Blu-ray player. There was a slight mismatch between the audio and people’s lips during dialog, and even though the app allows for some customization in lip-synching, I could never quite get it right. I think that would not have been a problem had I been able to connect the Blu-ray player directly. I’ll continue to tweak this, so maybe I’ll be able to make it better.The Ambeo Mini is a fantastic option for small to mid-size rooms. Sennheiser offers bigger soundbars for bigger spaces, if you need that. I like the “all in one” nature of soundbars and not having to mess with multiple speakers. For that, a dedicated media room is better, but soundbars like the Ambeo Mini are perfect for rooms where you don’t want to dedicate yourself to a full-blown surround setup, but you still want high-quality sound. This was a significant upgrade for me, but I feel that the sticker price is a bit steep for a system that lacks a dedicated subwoofer (which you can buy for another $699). The virtualization features are excellent. Even if they could be a little better, I’m not sure there’s anything else like this on the market.